Serbian government faces collapse over Kosovo[de] 

A special session of Parliament will be held on 10 or 11 March in order to vote on whether to dissolve the current coalition government, set up just ten months ago (EurActiv 14/05/07), and hold new elections on 11 May. 

The move comes after Serbia's nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica announced, on 8 March, that his government could no longer work alongside the Democratic Party of President Boris Tadic. 

Kostunica had been pushing for the adoption of a resolution that would have put Serbia's membership talks with the EU on hold until countries of the bloc withdrew their backing for Kosovo's independence – declared unilaterally on 17 February. But the move was rejected by Tadic's Democrats, who are staunchly in favour of EU accession, leading to accusations that they had given up too easily on the breakaway Albanian-ethnic province. 

"We are lacking government unity,'' Kostunica said. "I think we cannot agree on a new, reconstituted Cabinet before local elections on May 11, and I believe it would be best if people get to decide on a new government." 

He stopped short of resigning, saying that this would only lead to the postponement of elections. 

The poll is set to be tight, mirroring the neck-and-neck presidential run-off in February, when Tadic scraped past the ultranationalist radical leader Nikolic by a margin of just 3% (EurActiv 4/02/08). 

Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac of the Democratic Party told the daily Politika that "the election will be a referendum on whether Serbia takes a European path or becomes isolated". A key concern for his party is that the ultranationalist radicals could team up with Kostunica's nationalist party in the upcoming vote.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, however, called on Belgrade to stay on the European course, reminding the country that: "We are on stand-by [...] and are ready once Serbia is ready to move forward on European integration."